Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has always been fond of saying he’s accountable only to the voters.

But the U.S. Department of Justice took the first steps Dec. 15 toward making Arpaio answer to the federal government after unveiling the results of a civil rights probe that one investigator described as “the most egregious racial profiling in the United States.”

Nearly 3,500 volunteers in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office’s possehelp arrest illegal immigrants and fight other crimes, but don’t expect them to patrol along the U.S.-Mexico border, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Wednesday.

Latino lawmakers are calling on Sheriff Joe Arpaio to resign, following allegations made by a former Maricopa County Sheriff's Office employee that he ignored her warnings that the agency was misspending millions of dollars.